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Acti e pi el sensor - Wikipedia, the free enc clopedia

Activepi elsensor
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Anactivepi elsensor(APS)isanimagesensorconsistingofanintegrated circuitcontaininganarrayofpixelsensors,eachpixelcontainingaphotodetector andanactiveamplifier.Therearemanytypesofactivepixelsensorsincludingthe CMOSAPSusedmostcommonlyincellphonecameras,webcamerasandin someDSLRs.SuchanimagesensorisproducedbyaCMOSprocess(andishence alsoknownasaCMOSsensor),andhasemergedasanalternativetocharge coupleddevice(CCD)imagesensors. Thetermac i epi el en o isalsousedto refertotheindividualpixelsensoritself,as opposedtotheimagesensor[1]inthatcase theimagesensorissometimescalledan ac i epi el en o image ,[2]ac i epi el image en o ,[3]orac i epi el en o (APS)image .

Contents
1History 2ComparisontoCCDs 2.1Advantagesof CMOScomparedto CCD 2.2Disadvantagesof CMOScomparedto CCD 3Architecture 3.1Pixel 3.2APSusingTFTs 3.3Array 3.4Size 4Designvariants 4.1Hardreset 4.2Combinationsof
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hardandsoftreset 4.3Activereset 5References 6Furtherreading 7Externallinks

Histor
Thetermac i epi el en o wascoinedbyTsutomuNakamurawhoworkedon theChargeModulationDeviceactivepixelsensoratOlympus,[4]andmore broadlydefinedbyEricFossumina1993paper.[5] ImagesensorelementswithinpixelamplifiersweredescribedbyNoblein 1968,[6]byChamberlainin1969,[7]andbyWeimere al.in1969,[8]atatime whenpa i epi el en o (h p:// . iliconimaging.com/cmo _f ndamen al .h m) thatis,pixelsensors withouttheirownamplifiers werebeinginvestigatedasasolidstatealternative tovacuumtubeimagingdevices.TheMOSpassivepixelsensorusedjusta simpleswitchinthepixeltoreadoutthephotodiodeintegratedcharge.[9]Pixels werearrayedinatwodimensionalstructure,withaccessenablewiresharedby pixelsinthesamerow,andoutputwiresharedbycolumn.Attheendofeach columnwasanamplifier.Passivepixelsensorssufferedfrommanylimitations, suchashighnoise,slowreadout,andlackofscalability.Theadditionofan amplifiertoeachpixeladdressedtheseproblems,andresultedinthecreationof theactivepixelsensor.Noblein1968andChamberlainin1969createdsensor arrayswithactiveMOSreadoutamplifiersperpixel,inessentiallythemodern threetransistorconfiguration.TheCCDwasinventedin1970atBellLabs. BecausetheMOSprocesswassovariableandMOStransistorshadcharacteristics thatchangedovertime(Vtinstability),theCCD'schargedomainoperationwas moremanufacturableandquicklyeclipsedMOSpassiveandactivepixelsensors. Alowresolution"mostlydigital"NchannelMOSFETimagerwithintrapixel amplification,foranopticalmouseapplication,wasdemonstratedin1981.[10] Anothertypeofactivepixelsensoristhehybridinfraredfocalplanearray (IRFPA)designedtooperateatcryogenictemperaturesintheinfraredspectrum. Thedevicesaretwochipsthatareputtogetherlikeasandwich:onechipcontains detectorelementsmadeinInGaAsorHgCdTe,andtheotherchipistypically

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madeofsiliconandisusedtoreadoutthephotodetectors.Theexactdateoforigin ofthesedevicesisclassified,butbythemid1980stheywereinwidespreaduse. Bythelate1980sandearly1990s,theCMOSprocesswaswellestablishedasa wellcontrolledstableprocessandwasthebaselineprocessforalmostalllogic andmicroprocessors.Therewasaresurgenceintheuseofpassivepixelsensors forlowendimagingapplications,[11]andactivepixelsensorsforlowresolution highfunctionapplicationssuchasretinasimulation[12]andhighenergyparticle detector.[13]However,CCDscontinuedtohavemuchlowertemporalnoiseand fixedpatternnoiseandwerethedominanttechnologyforconsumerapplications suchascamcordersaswellasforbroadcastcameras,wheretheyweredisplacing videocameratubes. EricFossum,e al.,inventedtheimagesensorthatusedintrapixelchargetransfer alongwithaninpixelamplifiertoachievetruecorrelateddoublesampling(CDS) andlowtemporalnoiseoperation,andonchipcircuitsforfixedpatternnoise reduction,andpublishedthefirstextensivearticle[5]predictingtheemergenceof APSimagersasthecommercialsuccessorofCCDs.Between1993and1995,the JetPropulsionLaboratorydevelopedanumberofprototypedevices,which validatedthekeyfeaturesofthetechnology.Thoughprimitive,thesedevices demonstratedgoodimageperformancewithhighreadoutspeedandlowpower consumption. In1995,personnelfromJPLfoundedPhotobitCorp.,whocontinuedtodevelop andcommercializeAPStechnologyforanumberofapplications,suchasweb cams,highspeedandmotioncapturecameras,digitalradiography,endoscopy (pill)cameras,DSLRsandofcourse,cameraphones.Manyothersmallimage sensorcompaniesalsosprangtolifeshortlythereafterduetotheaccessibilityof theCMOSprocessandallquicklyadoptedtheactivepixelsensorapproach.

ComparisontoCCDs
APSpixelssolvethespeedandscalabilityissuesofthepassivepixelsensor.They generallyconsumelesspowerthanCCDs,havelessimagelag,andrequireless specializedmanufacturingfacilities.UnlikeCCDs,APSsensorscancombinethe imagesensorfunctionandimageprocessingfunctionswithinthesameintegrated circuit.APSsensorshavefoundmarketsinmanyconsumerapplications, especiallycameraphones.Theyhavealsobeenusedinotherfieldsincluding

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digitalradiography,militaryultrahighspeedimageacquisition,securitycameras andopticalmice.ManufacturersincludeAptinaImaging(independentspinout fromMicronTechnology,whopurchasedPhotobitin2001),Canon,Samsung, STMicroelectronics,Toshiba,OmniVisionTechnologies,Sony,andFoveon, amongothers.CMOStypeAPSsensorsaretypicallysuitedtoapplicationsin whichpackaging,powermanagement,andonchipprocessingareimportant. CMOStypesensorsarewidelyused,fromhighenddigitalphotographydownto mobilephonecameras.

AdvantagesofCMOScomparedtoCCD
ThebiggestadvantageofaCMOSsensorisittypicallylessexpensivethanaCCD sensor.ACMOScameraisimmunetothebloomingeffectwherealightsource hasoverloadedthesensitivityofthesensor,causingthesensortobleedthelight sourceontootherpixels.

DisadvantagesofCMOScomparedtoCCD
SinceaCMOSvideosensortypicallycapturesarowattimewithinapproximately 1/60thor1/50thofasecond(dependingonrefreshrate)itmaycauseanimageto skew(tilttotheleftorright,dependingonthedirectionofcameraorsubject movement).Forexample,whentrackingacarmovingathighspeed,thecarwill notbedistortedbutthebackgroundwillbetilted.AframetransferCCDsensor doesnothavethisproblem,insteadcapturingtheentireimageatonceintoaframe store.

Architecture
Pi el
ThestandardCMOSAPSpixeltodayconsistsofaphotodetector(apinned photodiode),afloatingdiffusion,atransfergate,resetgate,selectiongateand sourcefollowerreadouttransistor thesocalled4Tcell.Thepinnedphotodiode wasoriginallyusedininterlinetransferCCDsduetoitslowdarkcurrentandgood blueresponse,andwhencoupledwiththetransfergate,allowscompletecharge transferfromthepinnedphotodiodetothefloatingdiffusion(whichisfurther connectedtothegateofthereadouttransistor)eliminatinglag.Theuseof intrapixelchargetransfercanofferlowernoisebyenablingtheuseofcorrelated

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doublesampling(CDS).TheNoble3T pixelisstilloftenusedsincethe fabricationrequirementsareeasier. The3Tpixelcomprisesthesame elementsasthe4Tpixelexceptthe transfergateandthepinnedphoto diode.Theresettransistor,Mrst,actsas aswitchtoresetthefloatingdiffusion whichactsinthiscaseasthephoto diode.Whentheresettransistoris turnedon,thephotodiodeiseffectively connectedtothepowersupply,VRST, clearingallintegratedcharge.Since theresettransistorisntype,thepixel Athreetransistoractivepixelsensor. operatesinsoftreset.Thereadout transistor,Msf,actsasabuffer (specifically,asourcefollower),anamplifierwhichallowsthepixelvoltagetobe observedwithoutremovingtheaccumulatedcharge.Itspowersupply,VDD,is typicallytiedtothepowersupplyoftheresettransistor.Theselecttransistor, Msel,allowsasinglerowofthepixelarraytobereadbythereadoutelectronics. Otherinnovationsofthepixelssuchas5Tand6Tpixelsalsoexist.Byadding extratransistors,functionssuchasglobalshutter,asopposedtothemorecommon rollingshutter,arepossible.Inordertoincreasethepixeldensities,sharedrow, fourwaysandeightwayssharedreadout,andotherarchitecturescanbe employed.Avariantofthe3TactivepixelistheFoveonX3sensorinventedby DickMerrill.Inthisdevice,threephotodiodesarestackedontopofeachother usingplanarfabricationtechniques,eachphotodiodehavingitsown3Tcircuit. Eachsuccessivelayeractsasafilterforthelayerbelowitshiftingthespectrumof absorbedlightinsuccessivelayers.Bydeconvolvingtheresponseofeachlayered detector,red,green,andbluesignalscanbereconstructed.

APSusingTFTs
Forapplicationssuchaslargeareadigitalxrayimagingthinfilmtransistors (TFTs)canalsobeusedinAPSarchitecture.However,becauseofthelargersize andlowertransconductancegainofTFTscomparedtoCMOStransistors,itis necessarytohavefeweronpixelTFTstomaintainimageresolutionandqualityat anacceptablelevel.AtwotransistorAPS/PPSarchitecturehasbeenshowntobe promisingforAPSusingamorphoussiliconTFTs.InthetwotransistorAPS
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architectureontheright,TAMPisused asaswitchedampliferintegrating functionsofbothMsfandMselinthe threetransistorAPS.Thisresultsin reducedtransistorcountsperpixel,as wellasincreasedpixel transconductancegain.[14]Here,Cpixis thepixelstoragecapacitance,anditis alsousedtocapacitivelycouplethe Atwotransistoractive/passivepixel addressingpulseofthe"Read"tothe sensor gateofTAMPforONOFFswitching. Suchpixelreadoutcircuitsworkbest withlowcapacitancephotoconductordetectorssuchasamorphousselenium.

Arra
Atypicaltwodimensionalarrayofpixelsisorganizedintorowsandcolumns. Pixelsinagivenrowshareresetlines,sothatawholerowisresetatatime.The rowselectlinesofeachpixelinarowaretiedtogetheraswell.Theoutputsof eachpixelinanygivencolumnaretiedtogether.Sinceonlyonerowisselectedat agiventime,nocompetitionfortheoutputlineoccurs.Furtheramplifiercircuitry istypicallyonacolumnbasis.

Si e
Thesizeofthepixelsensorisoftengiveninheightandwidth,butalsointhe opticalformat.

Designvariants
Manydifferentpixeldesignshavebeenproposedandfabricated.Thestandard pixelisthemostcommonbecauseitusesthefewestwiresandthefewest,most tightlypackedtransistorspossibleforanactivepixel.Itisimportantthatthe activecircuitryinapixeltakeupaslittlespaceaspossibletoallowmoreroom forthephotodetector.Hightransistorcounthurtsfillfactor,thatis,thepercentage ofthepixelareathatissensitivetolight.Pixelsizecanbetradedfordesirable qualitiessuchasnoisereductionorreducedimagelag.Noiseisameasureofthe

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accuracywithwhichtheincidentlightcanbemeasured.Lagoccurswhentracesof apreviousframeremaininfutureframes,i.e.thepixelisnotfullyreset.The voltagenoisevarianceinasoftreset(gatevoltageregulated)pixelis ,butimagelagandfixedpatternnoisemaybeproblematic.In rmselectrons,thenoiseis .

Hardreset
OperatingthepixelviahardresetresultsinaJohnson Nyquistnoiseonthe photodiodeof or ,butpreventsimagelag,

sometimesadesirabletradeoff.OnewaytousehardresetisreplaceMrstwithap typetransistorandinvertthepolarityoftheRSTsignal.Thepresenceofthep typedevicereducesfillfactor,asextraspaceisrequiredbetweenpandn devicesitalsoremovesthepossibilityofusingtheresettransistorasanoverflow antibloomingdrain,whichisacommonlyexploitedbenefitofthentypereset FET.Anotherwaytoachievehardreset,withthentypeFET,istolowerthe voltageofVRSTrelativetotheonvoltageofRST.Thisreductionmayreduce headroom,orfullwellchargecapacity,butdoesnotaffectfillfactor,unlessVDD isthenroutedonaseparatewirewithitsoriginalvoltage.

Combinationsofhardandsoftreset
Techniquessuchasflushedreset,pseudoflashreset,andhardtosoftreset combinesoftandhardreset.Thedetailsofthesemethodsdiffer,butthebasicidea isthesame.First,ahardresetisdone,eliminatingimagelag.Next,asoftresetis done,causingalownoiseresetwithoutaddinganylag.Pseudoflashresetrequires separatingVRSTfromVDD,whiletheothertwotechniquesaddmorecomplicated columncircuitry.Specifically,pseudoflashresetandhardtosoftresetbothadd transistorsbetweenthepixelpowersuppliesandtheactualVDD.Theresultis lowerheadroom,withoutaffectingfillfactor.

Activereset
Amoreradicalpixeldesignistheactiveresetpixel.Activeresetcanresultin muchlowernoiselevels.Thetradeoffisacomplicatedresetscheme,aswellas

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eitheramuchlargerpixelorextracolumnlevelcircuitry.

References
1. ^AlexanderG.Dickinsonetal.,"Activepixelsensorandimagingsystemhaving differentialmode",US5631704(http://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc? DB=EPODOC&IDX=US5631704) 2. ^Zimmermann,Horst(2000).In eg a edSiliconOp oelec onic .Springer. ISBN3540666621. 3. ^LawrenceT.Clark,MarkA.Beiley,EricJ.Hoffman,"Sensorcellhavingasoft saturationcircuit"US6133563(http://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc? DB=EPODOC&IDX=US6133563)[1](http://www.google.com/patents?id=u QFAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA11&vq=activepixelimagesensor&dq=activepixelimage sensor) 4. ^KazuyaMatsumotoe al.,"AnewMOSphototransistoroperatinginanon destructivereadoutmode"Jpn.J.Appl.Phys.24(1985)L323 (http://jjap.ipap.jp/link?JJAP/24/L323/) 5. ^ EricR.Fossum(1993),"ActivePixelSensors:AreCCD'sDinosaurs?"Proc. SPIEVol.1900,p.2 14,Cha geCo pledDe ice andSolidS a eOp icalSen o III,MorleyM.BloukeEd. 6. ^PeterJ.W.Noble(Apr.1968).SelfScannedSiliconImageDe ec o A a .ED 15.IEEE.pp.202 209. 7. ^SavvasG.Chamberlain(December1969)."PhotosensitivityandScanningof SiliconImageDetectorArrays".IEEEJo nalofSolidS a eCi c i SC4(6):333 342. 8. ^P.K.Weimer,W.S.Pike,G.Sadasiv,F.V.Shallcross,andL.MerayHorvath (March1969)."MultielementSelfScannedMosaicSensors".IEEESpec m6(3): 52 65.doi:10.1109/MSPEC.1969.5214004 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1109%2FMSPEC.1969.5214004). 9. ^R.DyckandG.Weckler(1968)."Integratedarraysofsiliconphotodetectorsfor imagesensing"(http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp? arnumber=1475068&isnumber=31645).IEEET an .Elec onDe ice ED15(4): 196 201.http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp? arnumber=1475068&isnumber=31645. 10. ^RichardF.Lyon(1981)."TheOpticalMouse,andanArchitecturalMethodology forSmartDigitalSensors".InH.T.Kung,R.Sproull,andG.Steele.CMU Confe enceonVLSIS c e andComp a ion .Pittsburgh:ComputerScience Press. 11. ^D.Renshaw,P.B.Denyer,G.Wang,andM.Lu(1990)."ASICimagesensors". IEEEIn e na ionalS mpo i monCi c i andS em 1990. 12. ^M.A.MahowaldandC.Mead(12May1989)."TheSiliconRetina".Scien ific Ame ican264(5):76 82.doi:10.1038/scientificamerican059176 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2Fscientificamerican059176).PMID2052936

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(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2052936). 13. ^D.Passerietal.(May2010)."CharacterizationofCMOSActivePixelSensorsfor particledetection:BeamtestofthefoursensorsRAPS03stackedsystem" (http://meroli.web.cern.ch/meroli/CharacterizationofCMOSActivePixelSensors.html) .N clea In men andMe hod inPh icalRe ea chA617(1 3):573 375. Bibcode2010NIMPA.617..573P (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010NIMPA.617..573P). doi:10.1016/j.nima.2009.10.067(http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.nima.2009.10.067). http://meroli.web.cern.ch/meroli/CharacterizationofCMOSActivePixelSensors.html. 14. ^F.Taghibakhshandk.S.Karim(2007)."TwoTransistorActivePixelSensorfor HighResolutionLargeAreaDigitalXRayImaging".IEEEIn e na ionalElec on De ice Mee ing:1011 1014.

Furtherreading
JohnL.Vampola(January1993)."Chapter5Readoutelectronicsfor infraredsensors"(http://stinet.dtic.mil/stinet/XSLTServlet? ad=ADA364023).InDavidL.Shumaker.TheInf a edandElec o Op icalS em Handbook,Vol me3Elec oOp icalComponen . TheInternationalSocietyforOpticalEngineering.ISBN0819410721. http://stinet.dtic.mil/stinet/XSLTServlet?ad=ADA364023. oneofthe firstbooksonCMOSimagerarraydesign MaryJ.HewittJohnL.Vampola,StephenH.Black,andCarolynJ. Nielsen(June1994).EricR.Fossum.ed."Infraredreadoutelectronics:a historicalperspective"(http://link.aip.org/link/?PSISDG/2226/108/1). P oceeding ofSPIE(TheInternationalSocietyforOptical Engineering)2226(InfraredReadoutElectronicsII):pages108 119. doi:10.1117/12.178474(http://dx.doi.org/10.1117%2F12.178474). http://link.aip.org/link/?PSISDG/2226/108/1. MarkD.NelsonJerrisF.JohnsonandTerrenceS.Lomheim(November 1991)."Generalnoiseprocessesinhybridinfraredfocalplanearrays" (http://link.aip.org/link/?OPEGAR/30/1682/1).Op icalEnginee ing (TheInternationalSocietyforOpticalEngineering)30(11):1682 1700. doi:10.1117/12.55996(http://dx.doi.org/10.1117%2F12.55996). http://link.aip.org/link/?OPEGAR/30/1682/1. MartinVasey(September2009)."CMOSImageSensorTesting:An IntegratedApproach"(http://www.jovasolutions.com/islwhite paper/82isl3200whitepaper).Jo aSol ion .SanFrancisco,CA.

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http://www.jovasolutions.com/islwhitepaper/82isl3200whitepaper.

E ternallinks
ActivePixelSensors(APS)forthedetectionofionizingparticles (http://meroli.web.cern.ch/meroli/Lecture_ActivePixelSensors.html) U eofCMOSAc i ePi elSen o inhighene g ph ice pe imen Retrievedfrom"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Active_pixel_sensor&oldid=472694563" Categories: Imagesensors Americaninventions Thispagewaslastmodifiedon22January2012at22:46. TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlike Licenseadditionaltermsmayapply.SeeTermsofusefordetails. WikipediaisaregisteredtrademarkoftheWikimediaFoundation,Inc.,a nonprofitorganization.

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